Linear forest features

Linear forest elements have an elongated and thin forest morphological shape of maximum 200m width. They are structural connectors which potentially function as path for species moving between interior areas of patches, and branches which identify linear protrusion at edges of patches (after land abandonment for example). The proportion of forest in linear forest elements and the proportion of such elements along natural habitats are given for the year 2006 per landscape units of 25 km by 25 km, per provinces (NUTS2/3) and per country (NUTS 0). Linear forest lands are potentially more vulnerable when located in an anthropogenic context and the pre-dominance of agricultural or artificial lands along linear forest elements (low index value) points at anthropogenic fragmentation causes. Indicator 1: Forest proportion in linear features Indicator 2: Linear forest features along natural lands

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2006): Linear forest features. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/604fbd24-4134-4527-832a-01f15316c061

Measures are presented in Estreguil et al, 2012. The linear forest indices belong to a family set of morphological indices, which is derived from the Morphological Spatial Pattern Application (MSPA) of the GUIDOS software (Soille and Vogt, 2009) and a family set referred as Interface. Ref: Estreguil, C., de Rigo, D. and Caudullo, G. (submitted). Towards a standardised characterisation of habitat pattern. Environmental Modelling & Software. Estreguil, C., Caudullo, G., de Rigo, D., Whitmore C., San-Miguel-Ayanz Jesus. (2012). Reporting on European forest fragmentation: Standardised indices and web map services. Earthzine's Forest Resource Information theme in second quarter 2012. http://www.earthzine.org/themes-page/forest-resource-information/ Soille, P. and Vogt, P. (2009). Morphological segmentation of binary patterns. Patterns Recognition Letters, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 456–459. DOI: 10.1016/j.patrec.2008.10.015